Australia’s Leader of the Opposition, Peter Dutton MP, has issued a message to Greek communities across the country to mark OXI Day today.
Full message in English
Eighty-four years ago, Ioannis Metaxas stood tall in the face of aggression. At 3.00 am, the Prime Minister of Greece opened a message from Benito Mussolini delivered by the hand of the Italian Ambassador, Emanuele Grazzi.
Mussolini’s message was an ultimatum: Metaxas must support the Axis war effort and allow Italian troops to enter Greece, but should he refuse, Greece would be declared an enemy and face war. Metaxas turned to the Italian Ambassador and defiantly said, “Then it is war.”
Just as the Greek leader had embodied the spirit of his people, the Greek people reinforced the spirit of their leader. For in the days that followed, the people of Greece took to the streets with a resounding roar of resistance to the menace of Mussolini. Their chants of ‘No’ – of ‘Oxi’ – sent a clear message that, faced with invasion, the Greeks would not cower in fear, rather, they would shoulder arms and fight back with courage.
On 28 October, we remember the Greek people’s determination to defend democracy from fascist Axis dictators hell-bent on conquest. We also recall how the Anzacs steadfastly stood with the Greeks in their fight for freedom during the Battles of Greece and Crete in 1941.
Today, with democracies threatened by new tyrants and terrorists, Oxi Day reinforces the timeless need for courage, commitment and moral clarity to prevail over evil, as well as the importance of friends and allies standing together to defend civilisation.
On behalf of the Coalition, I send my best wishes to The Greek Herald’s staff and loyal readership – and all Australians of Greek ancestry – as you commemorate Oxi Day.
Hon Peter Dutton MP
Leader of the Opposition
